1) Child Trafficking in Asia

Brittany Kinal

The topic that I will be researching will be relative to the child trafficking issues taking place in Asia. I will be researching a large variety of questions commonly asked when investigating the sex slavery industry. One specific piece of material I have incorporated into my research of child trafficking is a book called “Scarlett Daughters of South Asia”. Information I have found in this resource is a few of the laws against child trafficking and slavery in Asia, along with the various types of child slavery involved in the eastern countries. I will also continue researching certain questions such as “what parts do most of these children come from”, “how many children are involved in sex slavery yearly”, and “which various purposes are these children trafficked for”.
The second major piece of material I will be incorporating into my research is an article called “Children for Sale”. This article includes the answers to some specific questions that have come up such as “ what is the main factor in assessing the value of girls as a commodity”, “how do child traffickers recruit their prey”, and “which region are children more vulnerable to trafficking”.
The third major resource I have discovered while attempting to learn reality of child slavery in Asia is a book called “Child Slavery Now”. This book is based on the modern industry of child trafficking in the eastern countries. A few questions that I will be looking for answers for are “what are the physical and emotional consequences of victims involved in child trafficking”, “what is the age range of children being trafficked in this area”, and “what steps can we all take in order to prevent child trafficking from increasing in these eastern countries”.
With this information and several reliable sources that I have successfully discovered, I believe that I will be capable to thoroughly investigate and uncover the truth behind this disturbingly horrible industry of child sex slavery in Asia.

Brittany's video:
Child Trafficking in Thailand

2) Forced Child Labor in Major Consumer Companies

Rachel Shevrin

Because agriculture and the food industry is something that I am especially interested in, I am going to focus on forced child labor in foods that are popularly consumed. While there has been an uprising of the slow food movement, packaged and processed food is still very much a part of our diet, and the people who are employed at the very base of this industry are often children.
The first main section of the paper will be about the economics of forced child labor used in major corporations, particularly in food companies, where the kids will be doing most work in either the agricultural phase or the production phase. For this part, I will use data found in the article Multinational Corporations and Child Labor, by Rajen Mookerjee and Annalisa Orlandi, published in the Global Economic Review. Child labor is typically found in low income developing countries.
The second main section I want to cover is on the history and politics of forced child labor in that particular region with that particular product. Are there policies in place that are not being implemented, or is there nothing in existence to be implemented? Despite people’s awareness that there is child labor going into their products, there is has always been a steady demand for these things.
The third point that I want to focus on is what happens to the kids psychologically after being forced into labor. Are the kids aware of the situation they are in? In the cases of the success stories, I wonder how the kids got away and what their transition back into everyday life was like. Another document that I will use is a one called ‘I feel like a foreign agent’: and corporate social responsibility interventions into Third World child labor, by Farzad Rafi Khan, Robert Westwood, and David M Boje. Though multinational corporations are profit driven entities, they must have some social responsibility consciousness.

A child worker in the cocoa industry

A worker using a machete to retrieve a cocoa pod

Everyone loves chocolate- there are people of every race, age, and religion that consume it. It is a global treat that people can spend as little or as much money on as they want. Some people are satisfied with the inexpensive bars found on every convenience store shelf; others invest in pricier varieties sold with other specialty goods. Regardless of price, most of the world’s cocoa comes from Western Africa, particularly Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Dark chocolate signifies more than just cocoa content- there is an unfortunate background of unethical treatment of workers in the cocoa industry. To keep up with the global demand for chocolate, farmers are reduced to, at best employ, and in many cases traffic children into slavery and unsafe working conditions. Forced child labor will continue if chocolate consumers remain uniformed and unmotivated about cocoa’s origins; to rectify forced child labor in the West African cocoa industry, chocolate companies need to take initiative and help the communities that they source their cocoa from become sustainable- particularly by providing education programs.
Economics
West Africa produces about half of the world’s cocoa supply, and as the demand for cocoa increases so does that of labor[1]. More recent consumer cocoa demands have led to the need of a higher supply. Ghana was expected to produce one million tons of cocoa for export by the end of the 2012/2013 season. However, as of July 2010, it is estimated that they will reach this goal by the end of the 2010/2011 season- a new record[2]. Because there is more cocoa being produced, it can logically be assumed that there is a higher demand and use of cocoa farm laborers.
Cocoa is produced on small family owned farms that sell their produce to a middle man who then sources the cocoa out to a major corporation. There are over 450,000 farms of 12 acres or less that produce billions of pounds of cocoa each year[3]. These locally owned farms employ farm laborers, but they also often utilize family members and children.
History and Culture
Not only is cocoa a huge part of West Africa’s economy, it is also deeply rooted in its history. Cocoa was first planted by Basel Missionaries in 1857 and after many years of struggle and growth, Ghana exported its first batch of cocoa- 80 pounds- in 1891[4]. Because the land was so fertile, the industry expanded as the cocoa trees flourished. In early 20th century Ghana and Ivory Coast, women and children were seen as “pawns” on the farms used for labor. They were traded by farm owners to other farms for credit- maybe in exchange for a different slave, or a few bags of cocoa beans[5]. This practice of pawning gave way to cheap labor and expendable slaves. Because the demand for cocoa was so high, farmers needed lots of people to harvest. Unfortunately, the people who make an actual profit from this industry are the major chocolate corporations and the middle men who buy the chocolate from the farms and sell it to companies like Hershey, Nestle, and Cargill. The small towns and communities responsible for growing and harvesting the actual cocoa do not reap many benefits. Many families live in cycles of poverty: the parents can’t support their kids on the salary they make harvesting cocoa, so they send their kids to work in the cocoa industry too, either on a local plantation, or some are sold into labor. The parents can’t pay for school, but school isn’t really an option anyway because there aren’t many teachers and no textbooks. The kids grow up harvesting cocoa, earning little money or education. They grow up and have kids and the cycle continues.
Child Labor
The work done on cocoa farms is strenuous and dangerous. Young kids wake up early and work until late in the day, often with physical beatings and little food[6]. Jobs include weeding, spraying toxic pesticides, cutting cocoa pods off of trees with handmade machetes (a blade tied to a stick), and carrying 50 pound bags of cocoa pods. Photos show young workers struggling to get cocoa pods with sharp knives and carrying bags as heavy as they are (see figures 1 and 2)[7]. There is no education system in place for children, little to no medical care available, and inadequate living conditions.
Youth get involved in the agricultural cocoa industry in many different ways. A lot of youths are trafficked into Ivory Coast and Ghana because their parents sold them to a trafficker. Some choose to go under false pretenses[8]. However, an important aspect to take into consideration is culture. It is part of West African life that sometimes kids work on farms to help support their families- a lot of them work side by side with their parents. A Nestle official said that “it’s culturally normal.”[9] A conflict that takes place is that many Americans, particularly journalists and Child Right’s activists think that the labor going on is a huge issue, while many Ghanian and Ivorian officials and chocolate company spokespeople claim that they are exaggerated and these reports are hurting their industry. A conflict that takes place is that many Americans, particularly journalists and Child Right’s activists think that the labor going on is a huge issue, while many Ghanian and Ivorian officials and chocolate company spokespeople claim that they are exaggerated and these reports are hurting their industry. In addition, chocolate company spokesmen have publicly voiced that stopping child labor is not a priority. In a public response to the International Labor Rights Forum, major cocoa trader Cargill stated that there wasn’t enough “market incentive” to end slavery[10]. It is difficult to differentiate why different kids are working, but it is clear that the conditions in which the children are working with are unsafe.
Solutions
There have been many movements to eliminate child labor from the cocoa industry. The most ambitious was the Harkin-Engel Protocol of 2001[11]. It was a contract voluntarily signed by many major chocolate companies that pledged to eliminate slave labor and improve working conditions for those involved in cocoa harvesting by 2005. Pilot programs were established, but due to various road blocks such as civil conflict in Ivory Coast, action was not seen through. Unfortunately, the protocol was largely seen as unproductive and ineffective.
In an effort to inform consumers of child labor in cocoa harvesting and the alternatives to the chocolate made with their cocoa, Fair Trade USA was established. Fair Trade sets certain standards that companies must comply with in order to be certified[12]. Fair trade is an ethical alternative to other chocolates. Unfortunately, fair trade certified chocolate is typically more expensive than non-certified, and not everyone has the means to purchase such chocolate. This may not necessarily be a bad thing. The farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast depend upon this demand.
The real solution lies in education- for chocolate consumers, but most importantly, the children of Ivory Coast and Ghana need a place to learn. By building school systems, education can help end the cycle of poverty without damaging the cocoa industry. One man who didn’t attend school in order to work on a cocoa farm expressed that “being illiterate has cost me in so many ways… I cannot have [certain opportunities] because I am illiterate… I feel I am missing a lot.”[13] The major chocolate companies need to take social responsibility for the communities that they are getting underpriced cocoa from and turn them into sustainable living environments. Consumers have the power to let companies like Hershey, Nestle, and Mars know that this is an ethical issue that is not being appropriately dealt with. Only then will chocolate truly be sweet.

[1] Kevin Bales, Zoe Trodd and Alex Kent Williamson, Modern Slavery: the secret world of 27 million people (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009), 49.
[2] International Cocoa Organization, “July 2011,” Cocoa Market Review
[3] Sadaf Qureshi, “Blood Chocolate: A Just Desert?” Humanist,Sep/Oct2008, Vol. 68 Issue 5, 11-13.
[4] Sasha Grossman-Greene and Chris Bayer, A Brief History of Cocoa in Ghana and Cote d’Ivore, 4.
[5] Ibid, 5.
[6] Orla Ryan, Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa (London: Zed Books Ltd, 2011), 44.
[7] “Bitter Chocolate,” End Slavery Now, http://www.endslaverynow.com/?goto=gallery005&section=galleries
[8] Orla Ryan, Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa (London: Zed Books Ltd, 2011), 44.
[9] Alan Cowell, “War Inflates Cocoa Prices but Leaves Africa Poor,” New York Times,(2002): 1.
[10] Bama Athreya and Tim Newman, “Slaves to Chocolate,” New Internationalist, no. 421 (2009): 12.
[11] Kevin Bales, Zoe Trodd and Alex Kent Williamson, Modern Slavery: the secret world of 27 million people (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009), 50.
[12]Fair Trade USA | Every Purchase Matters http://transfairusa.org/
[13] Orla Ryan, Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in West Africa (London: Zed Books Ltd, 2011), 46.

3) Untitled (Mayowa's Abstract)

Mayowa Laniran
8/31/11

My paper will focus on Nike and Apple, two of the world’s largest companies, and their use of child labor in sweatshops. These companies produce many products that Americans use daily. The reason the me3rchandise produced by these companies is not too expensive, is partially due to the labor done by children in sweatshops overseas.
This paper will cover how the children are recruited into the sweatshops, who recruits them, and what is being done to prevent the use of future child labor by Western manufacturers. “Nike’s Voice Looms Large,” is an article by Jeff Ballinger that focuses on the issues around the sweatshops in Indonesia during the late 90s and early 2000s that I have done some research on for my paper. The article also focuses on young people who protested against these sweatshops.
Another article, “The Nike Effect: Anti-Sweatshop Activists and Labor
Market Outcomes in Indonesia” by former UC Berkley students Ann Harrison and Jason Scorse also focuses on the anti-sweatshop movement that took place in the 2000s. The article also covers what the Indonesian government has done to deal with the problem of sweatshops, such as increasing the minimum wage in past years.
There are many videos and other articles in which former sweatshop workers tell of the conditions they lived in, and the long hours, which they worked that I have researched as well. Workers tell of the pressure they faced to complete their work, and the toll it took on their life. These direct interviews with the workers give insight into the sweatshop world.
Nike and Apple may have been indirectly using these children, since it was unknown to them what type of workers the subcontractors they hired were using. But now that it is well known that these children are being exploited to make shoes/electronics at a low cost overseas, what will these big companies do in return?

4) Human Trafficking in the Clothing Industry

by Germaine Aleena Ancheta

I have chosen to write about the clothing industry’s treatment of their workers. Some companies have factories all around the world where they can buy cheap labor. I am curious to find how safe their living and working conditions are and what clothing companies mistreat their workers. While reading, I have been so appalled by how some workers are treated because I had no idea how bad some companies treat their workers. In one of the stories I have read, the worker’s fingers were bleeding while making clothing. They work in unsafe, unsanitary conditions with little or no pay. I own a lot of clothing and it makes me feel terrible to know that some of the clothing I wear could have been made by a person who was treated so horribly. Now when I go shopping I will be cautious and look at the label of where the clothing is made. I want to raise awareness so people do not buy clothing from those companies who treat their workers poorly.